No station no. 5 in BK3 ?

Yes! There is no more station no. 5 in BK 3.

In a "teh tarik" session with Mr. Gobind Singh this morning in BK3, he confirmed that there will not be a station no. 5 in BK3.

However, only half of the issues we proposed are settled. There is still no conclusion yet on the realignment of LRT away from the green lung area.

We have suggested a few proposals and the discussion is still on as to the best alternative to get it done. Right now the track will still be as per the original design, running along on the green lung area. Mr. Gobind Singh has assured us they will look into all angles, discuss and come up with the best possible solutions.

Meanwhile, we can at least know that BK 3 will remain the way it is, a quiet and peaceful community.
 

MPSJ coming to Bandar Kinrara

Upon urging by BK3 Protem Committee, Gobind Singh has finally fulfilled his promise to get MPSJ to our place to hear our concerns.

 

There will be a dialog session held at BK2 Multipurpose Hall to discuss the ongoing issues affecting BK2 & BK3 residents. 

                         Venue: BK2 multi purpose hall

                         Date: 24th. September, 2011

                         Day: Saturday

                         Time: 9:30 am

Please pass the word around to other BK2 & BK3 residents about this dialog which is crucial for us as a community to ensure that our BK2 & BK3 environment is protected.

 

We should voice out our concern over : 

- illegal banners that make our environment so ugly and pathetic.

- cleaners who are inefficient in cleaning our environment.

- upkeep of playground and football padan.

- security issues.

- illegal hawker stalls that are mushrooming.

- new playground opposite Merak Apartment should be properly planned

- 17 years the roads leading to all our houses are badly damaged and no upgrading has been done before.     You see patches here and there. 

- and any other issues our residents have.

 

SKIP HIGHWAY

One major thing is the SKIP Highway that will start from Giant and hit straight through BK6 passing by BK Golf and joining Serdang to Putrajaya. 

Check out STAR online and our post on this news.   

Not only we have LRT, we have also SKIP Highway – BK6 residents should be very concern as the highway partly elevated and some points the existing road will be converted to highway. 

If you study the map, something fishy is going on.  It starts from Giant but coming from where?  BK1 & BK2 road from Army Camp??? 

We suspect it will come from LDP which is what Prasarana always say that they cannot divert the LRT tracks cos in future LDP will extend their highway. 

One can go nuts with the authorities. 

Banners will be up by MPSJ at strategic locations this week.  

Meanwhile, our LRT issue now is up to the state level. We are still waiting for the outcome.

 

Kinrara centre of it all

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all our muslim friends and happy holidays to all.

In the Star paper today, Kinrara will be seeing some major changes in the near future.

Coming our way will be a Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya highway (SKIP). 

According to the report the construction is supposed to start end of next year and expected to finish in 2016.

The new Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya highway

From the map I can see that the highway will start someway next to Giant supermarket in BK4, and heads towards Serdang direction. It will then split into two at the middle, with one heading towards Putrajaya while the other towards Sri Kembangan.

Although there are not much details yet, I imagine they will upgrade the road in front of  Kinrara golf course to make it part of the highway, then eventually joining back to Bukit Jalil highway somewhere near Giant supermarket in BK4.

With that highway, there are certainly a few new ramps and road intersections at our area. Is that one of the reasons affecting the LRT alignment that Prasarana is not telling us? It could be.

It is also funny the report mention the new highway will help to ease the congestion on LDP in front of IOI mall. How is that so I have no idea when the highway isn't linked anyway close to IOI mall at all.

What will happen for sure is, with the new LRT line and highway in the future, all at the Bukit Jalil highway area, Bandar Kinrara will see some of the heaviest traffic congestions in the Klang Valley. I wonder we will be able to move around anymore.

Major highways should be designed to join other major highways (for example North-South-Highway to Kesas, Kesas to North-Klang-Valley expressway, etc) in order not to have bottlenecks. By joining the new highway to the smaller roads in our area is a traffic congestion disaster waiting to happen.

And that's not all. There will be yet another Kinrara-Damansara highway linking our area to Pusat Bandar Damansara in the pipe line according to the report. I have no idea where that highway will join to.

Meanwhile, we are still waiting for a reply on our LRT problems. With all the festive holidays, it could be a while.

"Teh tarik" with Mr. Gobind Singh

About a month ago we were at Mr. Gobind Singh's office discussing about the LRT issue. While we were there, we also complained that since he was elected, he had never really set foot in BK 3. It is about time he should pay us a visit.

So when he mentioned about paying BK 3 folks a visit to have breakfast and “teh tarik”, just to say hello, we gladly accepted the offer.

The day finally came.

Residents paying attention to Mr. Gobind Singh

The meeting was informal and pleasant. Besides the LRT issue, many residents have other grouses like pot holes at our roads, uncleared side walk rubbish, and lack of road side car parks for the apartments.

A resident making a point.

While there is no guarantee all our problems will be solved, Mr. Gobind Singh did promise to look into all the complaints that we have.

The protem committee chairman En. Amin also took this opportunity to pass Mr. Gobind Singh the memorandum to be handed over to our Selangor MB.

Protem committee chairman Encik Amin handling over the memorendum

To me the best thing about the meeting was the walk around of BK 3 to show Mr. Gobind Singh our various problems and the location of  LRT track and station no. 5.

Taking a walk around the neighbourhood

By showing him the exact location of the LRT track and station no. 5 at our green lung, he could really feel how frustrated the residents are with the poor planning by Prasarana.

The LRT track will be right here.  See how close it is to our houses

Station no. 5 will replace all these trees

While it is hard to say what will come out of this, we certainly hope that the next step we take is the right one.

Residents giving their final thoughts.

Now the waiting game continues again. We really hope that Mr. Gobind Singh keeps his words and we get to meet our MB to present our case.

Meanwhile, get yourself ready. When that day comes, please show up in full force to show your support. We will need all the help that we can get.

(p/s: I think using "Mr." as a title to address someone sounded much more approachable and down to earth, instead of "YB". I am sure Mr. Gobind Singh doesn't mind that. After all even the president of United States is also addressed as "Mr. President". No disrespect here.)

Voices of BK 3

So this little girl Fatimah approached me, handed me a piece of paper. It reads:

Page 1

Page 2

Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

Signature campaign continues tomorrow 24th July, 2011 4:30pm

We are preparing our memorandum to be submitted on 28th. July, 2011.  

Time is running out, and we need as many signatures as possible from BK 3 residents.

 Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!
(please include your IC number, it will not be visible to others)

mbeou

We need your signatures.

We know collecting signatures is hard work but we believe if our voice and support are not strong enough, we will not be able to pull it through.

There will be a walk around BK 3 by our supporters to collect signatures in the evening tomorrow. We also need volunteers to help us. If you can help please meet us at:

     Location: BK 3 primary school front gate (near Merak apartment)
     Date: 24th July, 2011, Sunday
     Time: 4:30pm

 Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

(please include your IC number, it will not be visible to others)

From there we will split and walk around BK 3 to collect the signatures. 

See you guys there.

Meeting MPSJ didn't get us anywhere, but there is a silver lining.

 Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

To cut a long story short, we are back to square one again after four months of back and forth discusssion with Prasarana.

Meeting with MPSJ and Prasarana

Even though the meeting was held during a work day, many BK 3 folks felt necessary to show up and support our cause for the good of BK 3 community. Fifty-five BK 3 residents showed up at the meeting last Wednesday morning. The turn out was just unbelievable.

BK 3 residents signing in.

BK 3 residents at the briefing

Besides that, the briefing by Prasarana in MPSJ office was a let down. They didn't bring anything new to the table. Everything was just the same like when it was started.

Encik Yunos Khashid, Pengarah, Bahagian Perancangan Bandar MPSJ

Briefing from Prasarana

To summarize the whole meeting:

1) No, the track can not be relocated away from the "green lung"

2) No, station no. 5 remains where it is.

Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

This is the message Prasarana was telling us after four months of their study, with input from their consultants. 

In other words nothing can be done.

It is our feeling the whole meeting was put together in a very rush manner with not enough facts to back up their points. Things just weren't explained to us in a satisfactory manner.

When BK 3 residents asked who decided station no. 5 has to be in BK 3, no one could give us an answer.

No explanation was given on the traffic study as well. Prasarana just mention this is a drop and ride station, without any parking area provided. 

There was no traffic studies whatsoever on what impact the station will bring to the surrounding area.

Prasarana even presented us an artist's impression of how the station and track will look like at our green lung area (see below). It is not pretty.

Artist's impression of station no. 5 and track at green lung

Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

 
While our government often spend millions and millions of ringgit in building white elephant projects, they just couldn't allocate more fund to restudy, relocate and rebuild the ramp to BK 5 area so that the LRT track can be at the centre of highway? 

With station no. 4 just a stone's throw away, why can't station no. 5 be relocated or canceled all together?

In the long run, that is the best solution with the least impact to the lives of the residents around our area.

So where is the silver lining?

With all the bureacracy our system has, we believe this is just one of the stages we have to go through. Quite simply put, neither Prasarana nor MPSJ are in a position to make the decision on our demands.

Therefore, MPSJ suggested we present a memorandum about LRT station no. 5 and track at green lung issue for  them to be discussed at the next Majlis Tindakan Ekonomi Selangor (MTES) meeting.

In other words, the Selangor government will be making the final decision. We are moving this thing higher up. That is the silver lining.

It is getting closer and closer to the end. We have waited for four months and will certainly continue to fight for the future of BK 3 community.  

Your support has become more crucial than ever. We are still collecting as many signatures as we can. Please continue to provide us as much support as you can.

Be ready for the next meeting with the Selangor government. We will need more residents to be there to make our case stronger.

Help spread the news. It is not over yet but getting tougher.

Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

Show your support at MPSJ July 20th Wednesday 8:30 am

  Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

After  waiting for four months, the time has come.

MPSJ and Prasarana have agreed to meet the residents of BK 3 to discuss about station no. 5 and LRT track on the green lung issue.

                    Date: 20th July, 2011 Wednesday

                    Time: 8:30am

                    Venue: Laman Kenaga, Aras 1, Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya

If you need to take a half day leave, please do. If you don't have transport and want to be there, contact us. If you can not make it, ask your neighbour or relative to attend. Your support is the utmost important thing now.

We want all of you there. Do your part. It is now or never!

THIS IS PROBABLY THE ONLY CHANCE YOU GET TO SHOW THEM YOU MEAN BUSINESS!

Let's show them our solidarity and how much we care about our community.

Don't wait, sign your online petition here now!

Press coverage on BK 3 LRT briefing

In case you missed it, here are some of the press coverage of our effort yesterday. Good job guys!

Not yet sign the petition? Sign here online now!

The Star

The Star coverage online version click here

Berita Harian

China Press part 1

China Press part 2

 China Press coverage online version here

Sin Chew

Sin Chew coverage online version here

Not yet sign the petition? Sign here online now!

Thanks for your support, BK 3

Sign your online petition here

The briefing on 17th July morning was an overwhelming success. More importantly, BK 3 residents who showed up found out a taste of what it will be like with a LRT station in our area.

BK 3 residents showed solidarity today

We really want to thank all the residents who took time out during their Sunday rest day to attend the briefing. Your support means a lot to us.

Big crowd at the briefing

Packed hall with BK3 residents

Residents paying attention to the briefing

For those people who had signed the petition against having a LRT station no.5 in our area, and relocating the LRT tracks from green lung area to middle of Bukit Jalil highway, you just did yourselves a very big favour.

Residents signing petition

By doing so, you may help save our community to maintain its current peaceful and quiet nature, for years to come.

For those people who could not make it today, but want to show your support, you can still sign the petition online. Please log on to the link below to sign an online petition. 

Sign your online petition here

Help spread the news and send the online petition link to as many BK 3 residents as possible. Every signature counts. The more signatures we collected, the more powerful our voices will be.

Let's work together to keep BK 3 the way it is.

LRT extension briefing, Sunday July 17th 10:30am

By now I think most residents must have received the flyer about LRT extension briefing. We urge all the BK 3 residents to attend to find out what they will be facing in the future.

                                            Time: 10:30 am

                                            Date: 17th July 2011

                                            Day: Sunday

                                            Venue: Merak Apartment hall, Jalan BK 3/1

Location map

The presence of all BK 3 residents are most welcome. See all of you there.

Flyer distributed

Time to fight.

It has been three months since we talked to SPNB, and we are getting nothing out of them.

The promise of coming up with a satisfactory answer regarding the realignment of LRT tracks and relocation of station no. 5 is just an empty promise. While we are able to call and talk to their representatives, we are just not getting a firm answer from them.

Residents being informed of the latest LRT news

We thought the thing can be discussed and settled amicably. Turn out that SPNB is probably playing "Tai Chi" with us, with no intention to seriously looking into our problems.

Just like so many typical Malaysian politicians, SPNB thinks that may be by dragging the whole thing long enough, we will just give up and go away.

So last Saturday we decided to gather the residents to tell them about the whole situation. To our surprise there are many residents who are still in the dark about the whole LRT extension thing.

"Really, the track will be at our green lung area?"

"You mean there is a station here?"

So the time has come for us to really reach out, inform all residents, and get full support from them. Only then we able to put enough pressure for SPNB to really take some action.

BK 3 residents at the briefing

More residents should get involved, more voices should be heard, and more signatures should be collected to show our concern.

We must remember the track and station will be here forever, bringing with them all the social ills, parking woes, security issues, and cutting down the trees at our green area. SPNB will just build it, wash their hands and go away while we have to face this for the rest of our lives.

We want to meet the residents again. This time ALL BK residents should be involved. Everyone should inform their neighbours, friends and relatives to show their support before it is too late.

It is time to make some noise.

Let's keep BK 3 the way it is, quiet and peaceful.

The long wait

Many residents in BK 3 are losing their patience with SPNB (Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad), especially when they saw some LRT track preliminary work had started in our area.

A big pile of sand at green lung area, and some digging work

There were drilling frames for soil investigation work at our area for quite some time now. At certain areas the workers had even started to do some digging work to lay the underground cables.

Cable laying work

This morning there was a land surveyor doing some surveying at the green lung area. Obviously he was doing some surveying work for the new LRT extension.

Land surveyor doing work and soil investigation work

The residents had actually met and talked to SPNB three times since the LRT track and station no. 5 issues arose.

Just a few days ago SPNB had told us their consultants are finalizing their alternative proposals with a few options regarding realignment of LRT track and possible relocation of station no. 5.

SPNB had given us assurance no actual construction work will begin until our issues are settled.

We were also told SPNB will submit their proposals to MPSJ some time next week. After which a meeting will be held between BK 3 residents, SPNB and MPSJ to discuss the issues. Eventually MPSJ will have the final say on all the proposals.

There is still a long way to go...

Work on LRT started in BK 3?

Some of the residents may be wondering when they see workers starting to do some work at BK 3 area. Has work on LRT started?

Soil testing in front of "Tak Nak LRT station 5" poster

The workers are actually doing some soil investigation to estimate the depth of piles required for LRT construction work. It is some kind of preliminary work to any type of construction.

So it a way, yes, the construction work has started for the new LRT extension.

Many residents may also notice some tents set up by the workers. The workers are actually "camping" at our area while doing their work.

Temporary "homes" set up by workers at the playground

At the "camp site" the Bangladeshi workers cook and eat their meals, take bath, wash and hang their clothes between the trees to dry. I don't know how people can live in such a condition, but this is how some of the foreign workers are treated in our country, while trying to make our lives better.

Camp site?

The talk between SPNB (Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad) and the residents is still on. While the residents are still waiting for an answer from them regarding our concern, one has to wonder if they have quietly gone ahead and stick to their original plan.

Let's hope that is not the case.

Just say "NO"

Everyone wants the convenience of a LRT station close to their area. I imagine the residents in BK 3 feel the same way. However, the convenience of having a LRT station here comes with a price.

When the LRT track runs through BK 3, it will encroach into our green lung area, and station no. 5 will be right at our door steps. I have no idea why the planner or designer decided to do it that way. Obviously not much thought was put into considering the effect of all these to the residents around that area.

If the plan materialized, the negative impacts will be there. All the social ills, security problems, traffic congestion, parking woes and noise pollutions that are common to commercial area will eventually be part of our lives here in BK 3.

In fact, BK 3 will be turned into a public area. It will definitely become more like a commercial area than a residential area. 

Posters put up by residents

Some residents have already started an awareness campaign to let everyone understand the problem. We all know that with the support of the residents, something can still be done.

We are not really against the LRT line extension. It is just not right to put so little thought into planning a project of such magnitude, that affects people's life in a negative way. Better options are clearly available.

The LRT track should be realigned away from our green lung area, to the middle of Bukit Jalil highway. The trees at green lung area actually act as a buffer zone that cut off the noise and dust pollution from Bukit Jalil highway. They should be preserved.

We also don't need station no. 5 in our area. If the residents need to use the LRT, station no. 4 in BK 2 is just walking distance away. There is really no reason to have two stations so close to each other right at our area. It is a waste of tax payers' money.

Realignment of tracks and relocation of station no. 5

If station no. 5 is to be constructed, we think it will be better if it is relocated further down the highway towards IOI direction. That way the station can cater to more passengers from housings like Puchong Jaya, Taman Tenaga and so on, without directly affecting any of the residential areas.

The concern was also recently raised up and reported in several news papers like The Star and Sin Chew daily.

Some residents have in fact met and carried out a dialogue with Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad (SPNB) regarding our concern. SPNB had also visited our area to understand our problem.

They have promised to restudy the whole thing and give an answer to the residents in a few weeks time. So far however there is still no reply from them.

We certainly hope that SPNB can give us a satisfactory answer. Only then we can ensure BK 3 remain the way it is, a quiet and peaceful neighbourhood. 

At this moment we can only wait with our fingers crossed, praying for the best.

It is the little things that count.

BK 3 is a considerable low density residential area with simple amenities. Life is peaceful and quiet around here.

We are blessed to have a large playground with open green area that has a football field and a basketball court. For a small housing like ours, I must say our green area size is the envy of many others.

Large green area and playground

In the morning we can see people jogging and walking at the track around the park, or groups doing their exercises.

There are even more people in the evening, either playing a game of football or basketball. There are also kids playing at the playground and youngsters riding bicycles at the track. It is full of life.

Football field

BK 3 also connects easily to other areas. From Bukit Jalil highway we can get to KL, Sunway, IOI, Kesas highway and Shah Alam. The other direction in housing roads we can get to Jalan Puchong , Old Klang road and then PJ easily.

Unfortunately, no housing is perfect. Ours have some shortcomings as well.

There are only two entry-and-exit points for BK 3. One to Bukit Jalil highway and the other via Jalan Kinrara 4 to Jalan Puchong. Although we can get to other places easily, we must use either of this points.

BK 3 with two entry-and-exit points

That becomes a problem during morning rush hours, when parents are sending their kids to school, and residents going off to work. Two entry-and-exit points are just not enough for our housing.

In addition, with the newly open Kesas highway access road at Kinrara interchage to Old Klang Road, the outside traffic going through BK 3 and Jalan Kinrara 4 leading up to that access has also increased tremendously, making getting out of BK 3 more unbearable at times.

Traffic in the morning

On top of that roadside parking is also a big concern for our residents. With mostly landed properties, BK 3 does however has a few apartment blocks. We all know very well no apartment will ever have enough parking spaces for their residents. The apartment residents have no choice but to park their cars outside of their compound.

Road side parking

Jalan BK 3/7 facing Kasturi apartment in particular has this big parking problem. Being a very narrow street, with cars parking at both sides of the road, it can only allow one car to pass at anytime. This makes driving on that road a test of patience for most of the drivers.

Two way street blocked by parked cars

We must bear in mind that the future LRT station no. 5 is not only catered to the residents of BK 3. Anyone from nearby housings like Puchong Jaya, Taman Kinrara and Taman Bukit Kuchai for example will want to use the station as well.   

The only way they can reach the station is driving into BK 3. 
 

Morning traffic

While some of outsiders will pass by and drop off or pick up their family members, there are others who will just take advantage of the FREE parking at our road side.

Now imagine for a second our roads all jammed up with the additional traffic, and our roadside full of outsiders' cars. This is not how a residential housing should look like.

Besides traffic and parking, there is also a concern of noise pollution created by the new LRT trains.

It is not as quiet as you think.

If the new LRT tracks and station no. 5 are at our green lung area, residents who stay a few rows away can probably still hear the squeaking sound when the train handles the curves, breaking or starting off from a station.

SPNB will want you to believe the modern LRT is very quiet, but reality tells us otherwise.

Don't forget LRT runs from early morning until late hours, weekdays  and also on weekends.  So there will always be traffic coming in and out, cars parked in front of our houses, and squeaking sound most times of the day, everyday of the week.

If that is the case, all the little things we always enjoy and take granted for in BK 3 area, will be gone forever.

How will BK 3 look like in the future?

It is hard for anyone of us to picture in our mind what a LRT station will look like in our area, with the trees gone replaced by LRT tracks and station.

With my visit to existing stations and the plans of new station that I manage to obtain. I pretty much have an idea how the whole thing will look like.

From SPNB's website, we can see the artist's illustration of the station. It is a very modern tube-like station. The station is 94 metres long and 27 metres wide.

New Ampang line LRT station

The illustration is just a standard station. Each station in fact will be slightly different because of  height, support system, and so on.

We have also obtained a copy of the construction drawing for station no. 5.

From the side view, it is really surprising when I see that the distance between road level to station platform is around 19 metres, and another 11 metres to the roof top, for the total height of 30 metres.

What do all these numbers mean? Well, for those who are not that familiar with numbers, one storey of a highrise building is around 3 metres (10 feet). In other words, station no. 5 from road level to roof top is a whopping 10 STOREY HIGH!

Side view of station no. 5 in BK 3

Take a look at another view cutting across the station below. This is the view looking towards Bandar Sunway.

We can really see clearly how half of the station sits on top of our green lung area, and the other half on Bukit Jalil highway. It also has a walkway for passengers to cross the highway to the industrial area on the other side.

Now, notice how close our residents' houses are to the station? It is just across a narrow road. Also take a good look at the size comparison, the station is GIGANTIC compared to the single storey house.

Section view of station no. 5 in BK 3

Take a minute or two to process all these information in your mind.

Seriously, would anyone want a 10 storey high structure in front of their houses?

If I further marked the station and tracks on the photos I have taken earlier, we can really feel the presence of the station. It is not pretty.

Station no. 5 right opposite residential houses

Location of station no. 5 in BK 3 in green lung area

Unless something is done, this is what we will be facing in 2012. No more green trees, but concrete jungles instead.